Commission approves new Charter deal

Published 8:00 pm, Monday, June 30, 2003

A 15-year franchise agreement between the City of Midland and Charter Communications will go to the city council with an advisory commissions recommendation it be approved.

The Cable Access Advisory Commission voted 3-1 for the agreement, after debating the sticky issue: How many public access channels will the city need, and what proof should be required to show Charter that the need exists?

Midland has four channels for local programing. Under the proposed agreement, the city could have a fifth automatically when Charter goes completely digital. Midland could negotiate for a sixth if local programming filled more than 70 percent of all hours existing stations were on the air, for six consecutive weeks. The test assumes programs wouldnt be shown more than once.

For Charter, every channel is like prime real estate, said Dave Mothershed, vice president of operations. The more channels the city uses for public access, the fewer Charter has available for other programing.

Commission member Bob Granstra voted against the agreement, saying the city was "going backward" on the channel issue. The current contract sets a similar test to decide if the city can have up to six channels.

"With the new one, weve got four channels and maybe a fifth if they go digital," he said.

Assistant City Manager Jack Duso said the test for a sixth channel would be tough, but the new contract doesnt limit the city to six channels.

Dennis Fassett, president of Cable Management Associates of Belleville  a consultant company the city has hired  said the conversion to digital will mean much more capacity for adding channels. "Theyre not going to worry about giving away one channel," he said.

The current contract with Charter expires July 29. The new pact will go to the council July 14.

Commission member Todd DuBois abstained from Mondays vote because he has an affiliation with Charter.